Morning journal and courier., 1887-11-07
THE BoULANGER MARCH
The Man who L1ves Like a MillIOna1r
 on Money Made out oft.


 From the Chicago Tribunel
 Lovers of beer-garden singing are in de- spair. Paulus' voice has given out. Whether he will regain it or not is problematic For the present he is silent, and for some weeks to come he will remain so. What injured his voice? It was doubtless the eff fort required to sing over and over again each evening the song, "En Revenant de Ia Revue," otherwise known as the "Bou- langer March" This, as all the world knows, is merely an old polka, written some fifteen years ago in honor of the Queen of Italy, and widely circulated un- der the name "Margherita Polka" Pau Jus got hold of it and found that he could sing the rather 'fcatchy'' air. So he had some wretched dogge1el set to it and began singing it every night at the big beer garden where he was engaged to entertain women of the town and their male companions. It is now just about year since he brought out the "Boulanger March" song. He had the assurance to claim it as an original composition, and, I believe, he still sticks to 1t, although every one knows it is ab- surd. But the piece did not win any great popularity until last March, when Paulus went to the minister of war and sang it to | Gen. Beulanger, and the latter exclaimed" |" ''It ought to be made the national song of Francer
 Paulus gets royalty of 50 per cent. on \ all copies of the song sold in France. Up to the present nearly 300,000 copies have been sold, and I am told that his income therefrom has been fully $500 a month. This alone is nice income. How much he | gets for singing at the beer garden do not know, but suppose it is at least $50 night. | You may therefore understand that Paulus is well off. He has lately paid $25, ,000 for g house in Paris, and he owns country seat which cost him every penny of $75,000. He l lives, dresses, and drives out in style be coming millionaire. Now that his voice is broken he does not go to the beer gar | den, but once a week he sends his liyeriec 1 servants around to the office with his car l riage to draw his salary and bring it home tc him.
 Paulus' real name is Paul Habans. He ii a native of Bordeaux and is about 45 year old. He has been comic public singer eve since he grew up to manhood. At first h. was in small way. For years he did no earn more than $12 to $15a week. He found that there were plenty ot competitors whc could sing just as well as he. So he had t. resort to other means of making progress Audacious eccentricity became then hi ] watchword. When the other singers took t, I wearing cuffs fifteen inches in circumferenc l about their wrists he came out with cuffs yard in circumference, making him look a though his hands were sticking out of bee barrels. When large nosegays appeared h adorned the lapel of his coat with a cauli flower enciroled with wreath of mammotl sunfowers. When the others affected low cut shirt collars he had his bosoms cut ope almost to the waistband. These tricks
 more than his singing, attracted attention
 Thousands focked nightly to see what ne,
 trick he would display. So he won fam and fortune. As his songs were almost a ways political and satirical, and often scar
 dalous, he made many enemies. Frequent } he was threatened with violence, and mol ] than once was on the verRs of a duel I preparation for emergencies he studied bo1
 ing, fencing, and pistol shooting, until no
 he would be, in either of these, one of tt
 most dangerous antagonists. But as yet |
 never has been compelled to put his prowess | l actual test